10 Publishing one’s own writing Many young people like to write poems or short stories in their free time. Some of them dream of becoming professional writers. But finding a publishing house for one’s texts and becoming well-known is very difficult. On a poster put up in a school’s writing club there are a few tips for the first steps young writers could take. a) Read the poster about publishing one’s own writing. Answer the questions (1–5) using a maximum of four words. Write your answers in the spaces provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. 4 Get out your favourite texts and have them published! If you love to write and dream of being published but have not quite figured out where to start this poster will be useful for you: Here is a list of opportunities available to young writers that make publishing a realistic option. Online publishing More and more writing is published online. Beyond personal blogs, which are normally no way to make money, there are also paid, professional opportunities to publish texts. TeenInk.com, for example, is an online publishing website for young teen writers. It helps you to find publishing companies that work with teens and organises workshops and writing camps. TeenInk’s magazine is written just by teenagers and contains poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews and opinion essays. Writing contests for teens If you like competing against other young writers, you should take part in one of the many writing contests that are available for every genre and type of literature. In most contests you can win some form of publishing as a prize, sometimes online or in print. Additionally, you may also receive a monetary award or a scholarship. Taking part in a contest is a simple way for young writers to get some practice in preparing their work for examination by a jury – something writers have to do every day when sending their texts to publishing houses. But you should beware of contests if they demand you to pay an entry fee. Also contest winners who are offered publication for which they have to pay should not accept the offer. Such competitions are usually cheats and only want to trick you out of money. Self-publishing More and more musicians and authors free themselves from large publishing companies because they want to have more control over what happens to their work. They choose to publish their music or writing themselves. Lulu.com is one of the most prestigious online self-publishing companies. It works with various platforms to help authors selling and promoting their books. Preparing one’s work for submission It is important that you carefully edit your writing before sending it to a contest or a publishing house. Give it to friends and family to proofread. This helps finding small errors you might have otherwise missed. All publishers have certain rules for submitting writing. If you do not follow them carefully, your work might be discarded because it is missing an element. Good luck for starting your career as a professional writer! If you have any questions, your friends at the Writing Club will be happy to discuss them with you. 136 Books Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODE3MDE=